I concur with indents.tv. Olympic promo spots are usually slo-mo footage of athletes in motion, bathed in a golden light with a ribbon or flag or two blowing in the breeze behind them. How about a monkey and a pig from a 400-year-old, 100 chapter Chinese novel condensed into a two-minute trip that ends at The Birdnest? Devastatingly brilliant work by the Beeb and the Gorillaz guys - Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. More at the Beeb.
In days of yore, the riders wore wool. That's right, wool. Good old environmentally friendly wool (pretty much). You know, from sheep. Logos and type were stitched on by hand. Wool is a terrific insulator and keeps you warm even when wet and draws heat away from the body when one gets hot.
One of the reasons I enjoy being a cyclist and a cycle-sport spectator is the scenery, the visual poetry of the sport, and the (moving) typography!
The somewhat controversial, yet undoubtedly colourful Indian Premier Cricket League has commenced playing its shorter, highly marketable and multicultural brand of Twenty20 cricket. Much money has been bandied about to attract top players from around the cricketing world, with player salaries featuring lots (and lots) of zeros. If you're into cricket you probably know whom is playing where. I like the multicultural makeup of the teams, but first and foremost (being a very casual fan of the game myself) I must admit I was more concerned with the graphic identities of the teams. What sort and style of logo would the IPL teams use? This is cricket after all, with a distinctive Indian feel and flavour to it.
Would the team graphics be Indian in style?, or more universal and middle-of-the-road (to cater for a large audience)? As we're on the subcontinent, I was hoping for a technicolour explosion of Indian colours, a dash of Bollywood – something distinctively Indian to drive home the fact that this is the Indian Premier League of cricket.
What we got is not exactly that. The new IPL logos are, well, pretty ordinary and sometimes even quite 'American'* in style. And that's just not cricket!
Much has been said, written and debated the last few days over the recent Sydney second test match between Australia and India. A heated affair (Bollyline?) with an Indian player cited for (possible) racist comments, dreadful umpiring decisions, regrettable sporting conduct from some in the Australian team and then the petulant Indian team threatening to pull the plug and return home. Controversy upon controversy was heaped upon the 'gentlemans' game'.
Not that I'm an especially huge fan of cricket, but when it's super-hot outside, a session on the couch with a cold drink watching a few overs on the telly is a relaxing way to avoid the searing summer heat. (OK, I confess: watching Sachin Tendulkar and Mike Hussey in action may well be 'cricketing poetry in motion'. I seem to find myself watching more when they're at the crease).
Many have written of how the Australian team, in their quest to win 16 test matches straight, have perhaps not played as fair and square as they should have. An ugly arrogance has crept into their game (some may even say it's been there for years) and many cricket followers have lost some respect for the current team (even though the history books will show them to be perhaps one of the very best of all time).
I have to admit I've lost my respect for the team too and for a reason not often cited: their abysmal, cringe-inducing KFC TV commercials.
Continue reading "The Australian Cricket and Fried Chicken Kerfuffle" »
Whilst we're on football (see below)... As around 100,000 spectators fill the MCG tomorrow to witness the spectacle of a grand final of the modern version of Australian Rules Football, it's interesting to note that some light has been shone on the origins of this football code indigenous to Australia. Some of this is conjecture – but it is fascinating.
The image above is of an etching from 1857 "of Aborigines playing "kick-to-kick" near Mildura (and this) could be the first record of Australian football, experts say".
From Origins of the Australian Football Code by David Thompson (2005)*:
"Indigenous Australians traditionally played football. Although there were regional variations of the sport, usually a contest was played between two teams and often each team had a leader. The people of one locality would play another or the people belonging to a particular totem would contend against those belonging to another. Interestingly two common totems were eagle and crow – the eagles have been playing against the crows for hundreds if not thousands of years."
Continue reading "Marn Grook: the Roots of Our Game Pictured" »
William Ellis Green (WEG) is a legendary figure within Australian Rules Football. He's not a strapping centre-half back nor a sharpshooting full-forward. He's a cartoonist. Traditionally, Melbourne's Herald newspaper (now the Herald-Sun) produces a poster drawn by WEG displaying a 'graphic entity' (character, mascot, call it what you will) of the winning team. (Sydney, Richmond and Melbourne football club posters seen above). WEG's footy posters are very well-known to most Melburnians, whether you're a football fan or not. I can't imagine AFL football without WEG cartoons.
As a child, the team I followed was rarely in the finals, and I really didn't take that much notice of the grand final (which, if you know how football and sport-obsessed Melburnians generally are – is no mean feat). I do remember always being more excited the following day, after the grand final had been played, when WEG's premiership posters would be out in public. I also happened to grow up a few streets away from where WEG lived – he was always a bit of a local felt-tipped-marker hero of mine. I don't know if he influenced me to become a designer per se, but he certainly influenced my brother and I to pick up marker pens and to draw – constantly.
Come late Saturday afternoon, a poster looking somewhat like this, or perhaps this, will become available via the Herald-Sun. I hope the Cats win... they make for a much more interesting cartoon.
"It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle." Ernest Hemingway.
What is arguably the 'most beautiful sporting event in the world' starts on Saturday. My life will revolve around gear ratios, size and incline of mountains and cycling team tactics for the next three weeks. Bliss.
Which may be likewise for Kraftwerk. ‘The Beach Boys from Düsseldorf’ were obsessed by this three week feat of speed, endurance and stamina. See their original 'Tour de France' track and the more recent remix. Sublime music for a sublime event.
Read about their love of 'le Tour' at the very chic (for a cycling magazine) Rouleur magazine.
The full 2min40sec version of a seminal piece of Australian advertising is now on YouTube. The Up There Cazaly TVC from 1979 is embedded deep within the collective psyche of many Melburnians, whether they like AFL football or not. Am very glad the AFL has moved on from the extremely short shorts of the 70's – man, they were short... and tight. Cazaly includes Alex Jesaulenko's 'screamer' from the 1970 Grand Final (the very best of all time, in my humble opinion).
(What or who is a Cazaly?)
The World Cup Finals have commenced in Germany. For soccer-lovers (I know, I know, it's called football – but soccer is such a great word, and I prefer it myself) who may be keen to know the scheduled programme: who plays where and when, Research Studios have prepared an interesting type-based wall chart that helps make sense of the structure of the tournament. It's available for download here (PDF 1.6MB).
Is that the roar of the crowd you hear? or World Cup branding noise? Read more.
And if soccer isn't the correct name for the game, the word football is also a misnomer. As explained in an article in the current issue of ID magazine, the football is actually not a ball at all. It's not a sphere, but a truncated icosahedron, or, a 32-faced polyhedron. Fancy a game of footicosahedron anyone? Or, footbuckminsterfullerene? Read more at ID magazine.
The 'pink post' below jogged my memory... Currently a sporting event is occurring that celebrates endurance, teamwork, physical strength, the beauty of cycling and the magnificent countryside of Italy. The 89th Giro d'Italia is about halfway through. Ivan Basso (above) is currently leading the race and looks set to win. In the context of Australian sports (and probably those in NZ, Canada, the UK and the US and elsewhere) the leading rider (the winner thus far), namely the strongest, fittest athlete in the race is granted an unusual privilege. He gets to wear a pink jersey. I can't imagine an AFL or rugby player, cricket, hockey, badminton or just about any other sports star getting emotional about putting on a nice, bright pink shirt. But in this sport, in Italy, it is everything and pink is everywhere.
